Pet Haven

7-31-14

Sometimes random field trips can be fun.

As I browsed the Torrance newspaper archives, I came across an article and picture of Lassie. Lassie was actually with some military folks and posing in front of a grave marker. It was a grave of a pup who had been in WWII and was posthumously being awarded the Lassie Award. Turned out, it was over at Pet Haven, or as we affectionately refer to it, the monkey cemetery.

Clearly, it was time for an outing.

The boys enjoyed the exploring more than I had expected, but then again, they are used to my random cemetery outings. We found Skippy and many other sweet and touching markers. I was having a difficult time when I came across several “Trixie” stones and was thankful I had washed my makeup off before we had left since I know my eyed would have been in pain. Bobby asked me if I had cried yet, which sadly only made the tears come. That being said, they were ok tears.

We also went into the office to see what kind of pricing they offered, specifically for cremation services. While there, I shared the article I had found and the man there let the boys pose with the office bird, Pee Wee, which was pretty fun.

In my internet searches after the outing, I have discovered a woman on Facebook that contributes to Find A Grave and is a self-declared Cemetery Walker, which I love! I spend much of this morning going through all of her pictures. I sent her a friend request. She also happened to go to Torrance High, which makes it all seem even more meant that I need to know her. I am all excited.

I spent some time yesterday going through my dresser and I got rid of a large bag of clothing I know I don’t wear anymore. I will take it to Savers this afternoon. I need to also go out and get some more hangers since I was able to make everything fit better by hanging up some other items.

I have a strange desire to do a uber scrubbing on the bathrooms, so perhaps that will be my afternoon task. I need to get over to the library, also, since I have a book on hold there for me.

Ken and the boys took my car yesterday and got the oil changed, gas filled and washed it. Yay! There is a bunch of crap in the car that now I need to clean out, but it is nice to have my car all happy.

Take a hit

7-28-14

It was a fantastic weekend!

Friday night’s meeting was not horrid. Of course, I did opt for a couple of hits before I went due to my incredible anxiety that was building. I was super twitchy with my left pinky so Ken told me this is exactly what the pot is for. Two hits was a perfect amount of my Space Queen to allow for me to calm down and still be on task when it came to the meeting. It was wonderful.

We discussed the upcoming audit and it looks like it will once again be pretty easy overall. I think I did amuse and surprise my colleagues there when I went into my work mode which made it very clear that even though yes, we are supposed to be helping families with issues concerning their soccer playing offspring, we also can’t let them be dicks to us. We had a family that requested a refund because they dropped from the Extra team. Since I don’t handle that account I didn’t know about any of this until dinner. Turns out they didn’t get the check and there was a lot of frustration from the family and they were rude to Bill (who subsequently hung up on them which is shocking since he is so gentle) and wanted us to issue a new check. Mind you, it had been barely a week, and it turned out that they had given us multiple addresses along with having issues with someone at one of those places taking the mail. Sounded like it was a whole lot of divorce drama that frankly, AYSO should not have to worry about. When I found out about how we were bending over backwards, I told them all that we don’t have to do this and explained a rational policy to be put in place. I guess I get a little passionate when I talk sense and Ed was super amused and excited to see me get all riled up. Jerry realized that if collections or other things like this come up, clearly they need to include me since I can handle it. LOL!

I managed to sleep till 9. Granted, this was after getting up at like 6:30 to deal with the dogs and other things, but I did come back to bed and fell into a wonderful deep sleep that included dreams of me dealing with some kind of rabid snake/skunk mix and wandering a foreign country. It was awesome!

Ken and Bobby dropped Dax and I off at Savers on Saturday morning and we looked for shorts. Stephanie had tipped me off on the 50% off sale on kids clothing so we went nuts! We found 4 pair of shorts for each boy and a couple pair of jeans, too. Back to School clothing shopping done all for $20! We also got some books, since Dax and I have no control when it comes to book shopping. It was his fault. He asked if we could look at books. What is a mom to do? He found a Magic Treehouse book and some others that looked interesting. I found the book I was looking for that I want Bobby to read. They had a copy of Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, which pleased me greatly.

Stephanie and Sabrina came over to swim. It was a lot of fun! We left the kids to the pool and we hung out downstairs chatting all afternoon into the early evening. Clearly my weekend was pot based since we both had some while the kids watched movies. Poor Ken seemed to be banished to the bedroom to watch tv since he didn’t want to watch Adventure Time. That being said, it would have been interesting to watch in our state. I was so happy Stephanie was over. I had missed her! She is going to help me prep for dinner at the next game night that is on the 9^th (which up until seriously, yesterday I thought was this coming Saturday). We are going to make a nice salad and BBQ some teriyaki chicken. Yum!

Sunday was an incredibly random adventure. We had signed up for this new service where you can use these Smart Cars that are parked all around the area. They are rental cars that you pay for by the hour. You can park and leave them anywhere when you are done. It is a pretty cool idea. So we let the boys stay home by themselves, armed with a phone and instructions to not answer the door and Ken and I walked up to one of the cars.

The cars are seriously super freaking tiny. I almost felt like we needed to wind it up before we could go. However, it was a fine little car for what we used it for. We drove up to Target to return this griddle we had picked up that happened to be scratched. We also went next door to Ralphs to get a cake for Steve’s birthday. It was a simple little outing, but actually quite fun.

Ken did manage to almost lose his iPad, but let’s just sweep that under the rug.

Dax lost his tooth on Sunday so I was a little panicked at first being that I wasn’t 100% sure where I had stored the Tooth Goblin. I don’t know why I panicked since it was exactly where I would have thought to put it, which was in my closet. It will now reside in the kitchen as a permanent fixture. He really is much too cute to leave him boxed up somewhere.

I found two different books at the library so I have them both being put on hold. One I managed to request last night, and the other this morning since I happened to read an article written by the guy who wrote the book. That one is about animal ownership changes in the US over the last century. It looked intriguing. The other is the book called The Giver. I had been interested in reading it a couple of times, but now that I see the movie is coming out and it looks interesting, I feel that I should read the book first. I was unable to hunt down a copy online so I will go old school and get an actual book. That one should be available this afternoon since the copy was already at our branch. The other will be transported from the main library branch to our branch, which may take a day. I will hopefully get email confirmations before I leave work. Hopefully both will be there when I walk over there after work. If not, it just gives me an excuse to walk over tomorrow, too. I am also hoping to look around for a couple of books by Rainbow Rowell. I read one of her books and enjoyed it and was curious about her other two since they are getting good reviews. I am hoping the boys and Ken walk with me since we could all use the exercise.

It looks to be a quiet week. Tomorrow night is the referee points meeting. I will most likely go for part of it and then the boys and I will come back home. Ken knows how I feel so I know he can speak for both of us on this program. Plus, I have already discussed things with Jerry and Jimmy so I don’t have to speak more. I may, however, need to cut a check for the food. Ha! I may walk up with the kiddos and dog heads and just stay to write that check.

Time to prep for my reports tomorrow. I find it funny that I always have the most to say the day before reports. I write a longer post, which is nice since I won’t write one tomorrow. 

Sheriff

7-25-14

Damn you, epic heat. I am now tired due to your evil.

I really would love to drive down to San Diego this weekend to just people watch. I know Comic Con would be a lot of fun, but I also know it would be almost as fun to just see all the people outside the buildings.

Yesterday I went and watched “Support Your Local Sheriff” with my mom. It was a really fun movie and I laughed quite a bit. It was a really fun afternoon and I am hoping that we can make movie afternoons something we can do in the future. Of course, what with summer almost over, those afternoons end up being weekends. LOL!

My parents have been married for 40 years tomorrow. Very freaking cool!

I have my audit meeting tonight. I spent much of yesterday morning uploading files so that I had all of my financial ducks in a row. I got all inspired to do a bunch of new things as treasurer. It always cracks me up when I get all diligent on things like this, especially since I have threatened to quit a dozen times. My feeling is that if I am going to do it, it will be done fantastically. I also have the desire to be marked as the best treasurer that this region has ever had.

I would be bummed that I have plans for the night that will likely keep me up, but I also know that I get to sleep in, which is happy making. Prepping for Dax’s party is the plan, and hopefully not dying from heat stroke. It means I will end up in the pool at some point for sure.

Now if I can make it through my work day life will be good. 

Teeth

7-24-14

No braces for Mr. Bobby yet!

Loved the orthodontist. His office was very kid friendly and comforting for anyone who was nervous. The initial exam room was awesome, too. It had a dental chair along with a little conference table and computer that allowed the doc to show us on a computer what was going on with his teeth. Very high tech!

He doesn’t need to have braces yet. The doctor would like to correct his bite and teeth, but for now, he would end up having a retainer for a couple years. We wouldn’t even do that until his one tooth in the front finishes coming in. We have an appointment to come back in 4 months where at that time he will check to see if he is ready for a fitting. Bobby was pleased because the retainer wasn’t braces and he is able to pick whatever color he wants. Very cool.

Ken made an appointment while we in the building since the oral surgeon is located there. He has to get all 4 wisdom teeth out. I will need to drive him home, which could be funny. I am hoping for some goofy from him.

We are all excited because the weekend has no plans! YAY! It means we can work on the side of the house to remove the items covered by the tarp. Plus, maybe we can finish painting the house!!! I need to clean the side of the house for the dogs. I want to make it available to make a dog run for when we have people over. It will be nice to have that available, even for days the boys don’t want the dogs to swim with them.

I am feeling inspired again on my AYSO paperwork. I have a meeting tomorrow night with the auditor and the new auditor and I have been playing with the new system this morning, enjoying the reports I have been able to process. I am hoping the travel account doesn’t use the system since it will make things wonky. I am also a tiny bit nervous that my efforts will look lame since I am now going to be working with a real CPA. I know that this guy, Dax’s first coach, is AWESOME, and would never be mean, but I just want to not sound like an idiot. LOL!

They restocked the tea! Yay! I am rockin my tea this morning and looking forward to chilling with my mom this afternoon while we watch “Support Your Local Sheriff”. It was a movie we planned on watching anyway, what with it being one my mom has wanted me to see. It seems all them more fitting being that we can now view it as a tribute to the late James Garner.

High

7-23-14

Orthodontist appointment today for Mr. Bobby.

My poor kid is nervous. He doesn’t want braces. Of course, just because we are going doesn’t mean he automatically needs them. His front two teeth are crooked and have always been. Of course, his one side tooth also hasn’t come in yet, so perhaps when that comes in is when they will make any drastic decisions. Hopefully the appointment itself will be painless.

Yesterday we took my folks to the dispensary. I have to say it is an odd thing to do. That being said, I was thrilled that the one girl who always helps us was there. She is always so very nice and knowledgeable, even if much of her wisdom is lost on some of us peeps who don’t know all the lingo. I know sometimes I feel a little stupid, but she is never the reason for that.

My folks also really liked the doctor that they got their prescription from. I am so glad! I know we loved her and felt at ease so I am glad it was a person that I knew my parents would also feel comfortable with. As much as the tides are changing with marijuana in this country (finally), it doesn’t take away all of the stigma attached to it.

We picked up a new chargeable e-cig. It is so much nicer than the other one we have. We also picked up this one cartridge called Gold. Holy crap, yay! I didn’t ever really believe the idea of a good tasting pot, but this stuff actually tasted like cotton candy! It was actually supposed to be crème brulee, but either way, it actually left this pleasant taste and smell and was wonderful.

Ok, this will sound silly, but when she had us try a hit at the place, I was nervous. It is one thing to possibly cough when with people I know, but I wanted to be cool and be able to take a hit without an issue. I was all proud that the first one I did resulted in me having almost no smoke to blow out. And the second one I did quite well. Both Ken and I laughed because here she was, getting us stoned before buying, which was so just like the Weed Firm game. LOL!!

I would be drinking green tea right now, but of course, we are out of it at work. Lame.

Dog Toy Fail

7-22-14

I hate bad dreams.

At least I know where it came from. It doesn’t make it better, especially since I didn’t like the origin. It came from a deep place of insecurity that was poked awake yesterday when my housemates arrived home. Conversations about the mystery rodent to my inclusion of the dogs when going to Petco all resulted in me feeling as though I had failed. I know that no one was angry with me, but the repeated griping or disagreements messed with my apparently fragile demeanor yesterday.

This morning I spent writing a complaint email to the dog toy company that made claims on their stuffed roster to the tune of being able to withstand rough play. Clearly this was bullshit being that Lily and Luna in relatively light play managed to put a gaping hole in the backside of the rooster within 30 minutes of play time. And this wasn’t even on a seam or weak spot. This was smack dab in the middle of a flat area. I don’t know what I expect from the company. I also can’t complain too much being that the toy was free due to the checkout girl being much too distracted talking to me about my hair to actually ring up the toy. Either way, I have been on a hunt to find something to withstand Lily’s puppy strength that also appeals to her. She likes the soft toys, her favorite being a very used “cooked chicken” that we got a couple years ago for Luna as part of a Thanksgiving Feast toy set (complete with a little corn on the cob). Shockingly that one has held up well, but most become part of a doggy massacre with guts strewn about the floor. It isn’t pretty.

Day two of my green tea experiment. I have decided 5 cups a day as recommended is my challenge. I have been taking my flaxseed oil and multivitamin as well. I know that yesterday I felt quite good. I didn’t get my standard ick that seems to hit me every morning and I also have to say I benefitted from the wake up of caffeine. The only real issue is that it is always warm in my office so drinking hot tea is not great for that. Thank goodness for my super fan at my desk.

It turns out not all purchases at Dollar Tree are worth the savings. I had bought some fake nails because they were really cute. They didn’t come with any adhesive. Not a huge deal in the grand scheme of things, so I picked up a bottle of glue at target since I have been dabbling in these fake nails for a while and one always needs glue for them. I had put them on yesterday morning. By the time I was heading home, most had split in the middle, forcing me to trim them down. Mind you, these are the super short variety, so it isn’t like I had these super long crazy black lady nails. These are just barely past my finger pad. Plus, I was quite careful with them. I wasn’t doing extensive work with them aside from typing. I woke up this morning noting that one was now gone, lost in the sea of my comfy bed. Crap. What makes it worse is that the others don’t appear to want to budge when I tried to just remove them all. It figures those are all in it for the long haul. I guess it is time to soak my fingers later.

Dax is all excited for his birthday shindig. I suppose I should send out the invites to his class. I will do that today. He is happy to have the party at home as a pool party/bounce house party with a Pokemon theme. We even found a Pokemon jumper and he was thrilled. Time to start picking up random Pokemon items. 

Mouse!

7-21-14

Well that will certainly wake you up.

I found it interesting that Lucy was by the front door when I was leaving. She isn’t the one who tends to see me off. I found out quickly why it was that she was so anxious for me to open the door. On the top right hand corner of the screen door was a mouse! It was a large mouse, but I am relatively sure it wasn’t a rat because I didn’t notice a larger tail. Either way, it startled me and I gasped. I am shocked Ken didn’t come running out, but I guess I was still pretty quiet in my shock.

The critter scooted to the bottom but Lucy was ready. There was a slight struggle but the mouse escaped under the screen. By this time I had most of my cats begging me to let them go after the rodent. I have to admit, I was tempted to let Monarch take a crack at it, but really, the one cat who could have captured it was Breezer, and she was too busy lounging in the hallway to have even seen the commotion.

Needless to say, I was wide awake after that.

It was an interesting start to the week. I can laugh at that, but when the front door to my building once again failed to unlock, I can say I am not feeling as groovy. Oh well. Hopefully I got the crap out of the way.

Registration on Saturday was good. Another rocky start to a morning what with the janitor not showing up to the school to let us in, but we managed to get a hold of the principal so we were able to get in the school. 

We had an amazing turnout, and right now our numbers are actually up! Yay! The day itself went quickly. I never had a moment where I felt like it was dragging. The boys felt differently, but they feel like that after 10 minutes, so I was not shocked.

We spent a lot of time cleaning the house yesterday. I always feel really good after that. We even did some cleaning we neglect, which makes me all happy because although I love my house, I love it even more when it is all clean.

I went last night to Angela’s NA meeting so I could see her get her chip. I had a bit of a snafu what with there being 2 churches with the same address, one in Torrance and one down the street in Redondo, but I made it and am glad I went. She didn’t end up talking, but she said one of the meetings she attends she will end up sharing. I told her I would go to other meetings with her, especially if they were important ones. Hopefully with a good support team, she will make some positive changes in her life.

The people at the meeting were certainly a cast of characters that varied from seriously committed folks to people that looked like they might still be high to the ones going through the motions when they were texting the whole night. I suppose not everyone is at the same point in their recovery.

Of course, I couldn’t help laughing on my way home noting that I had spent that night helping a friend in NA and that later this week I will be accompanying my folks to a dispensary after encouraging them to start using.

My friend Stacey, the one who I gave the stroller backpacks to, had her twins this morning. They look great! She grew them good!

I have been slacking on my green tea consumption. I have decided to make a point of drinking my 5 cups a day. I will be curious to see how I feel after a week of this. I will venture a guess that I will be pretty wired at work. LOL!

Bobby has his orthodontist appointment on Wednesday. I really am hopeful the kid doesn’t need braces. I know it will upset him greatly. That will break my heart.

Dreams of Sleep

7-18-14

If I stay awake at my desk this morning it will be a miracle.

It was a long meeting last night. I didn’t get into bed until close to 10:40. I slept well, but I feel like this has been the longest week ever and it has caught up with me in spectacular fashion my crippling me with exhaustion.

Of course, the day looks to be annoying what with the boss having showed up to work almost 3 hours early. It is never a good sign since it just means he is feeling perky this morning which tends to make for more poor business choices on his part. Yesterday alone, I found myself shaking my head more than a half a dozen times because I wondered if he was actually thinking about his decisions with certain customers.

Thankfully my afternoon doesn’t look to be too busy. I need to get over to the grocery store in order to obtain our prescriptions from the pharmacy and I need to get change for the registration event tomorrow. I think then my plan will be to get into comfy clothing and to have Chinese food delivered so that we can all vege out when my housemates get home.

I found myself doodling tattoo design ideas last night while at the board meeting. I need to make an appointment for a consultation. I want to verify the ideas we have are something that is doable, and I need to see how much it will cost. I emailed them this morning to see how much the consultation will be. I assume also that we will have quite the audience, what with the boys and Ken wanting to watch me and Poppy will want to see my mom actually get this done.

I gave a can of cat food to Girlie yesterday and she scarfed it down. It may be that she is at the point where the kibble is too hard for her to consume. I think the plan will be to have her start having a can a day. I will be curious if this helps her. She has been getting increasingly weaker just due to her age. She also is down to 4 pounds. She still has gobs of spunk, but I think even if this is just a luxury for her last bit of life I am ok with this.

The ice water seems to be doing its job. I feel a little more coherent after having drank a couple of large cups full.

 Last night on the way home from the meeting we noted that the onramps where I get on to go to work were closed for overnight work. I noted that this would be a bitch if it was closed this morning. Ken thought it should be ok, but sadly my early commute did not jive with their schedule. I was forced to take surface streets to get to work. Thankfully, there is zero traffic at that time. Unfortunately, there are a lot of red lights to deal with.

I heard some wonderful feedback about the boys yesterday. Katie, who has been helping out this week at the camp, told me how the boys are probably the most helpful employees down there and that they are really well behaved and awesome! Yay! I know they have been having a lot of fun, and they are going to get paid for some of their help, which is really cool, too. It is like having a fun summer job, which is really a wonderful way to teach them responsibility.

I am hoping to take them to Mulligans one day on the last week of July. I figure when I get home from work, we should be able to head over and have some fun. I miss them these days. I don’t hardly see them what with them getting home so dang late. Plus, they really only want to play the computer since it isn’t like they do that during the day while at camp. This of course is what I know is how it will be more and more since they are getting older, but it doesn’t make it ok.

I really need to start looking into what to do for Dax’s birthday. As much as I know he wants to go to something like SkyZone, I think that I would rather try to do something at the house. I am wondering if I can fit a bounce house in our back yard. I also think it might be fun to have a pool party. He can invite people over and it can be all done outside so there is minimal mess. It means I need to really get crackin on the yard to make it presentable. Of course, I don’t want to do too much water related things since they are cracking down, but I think since the pool is already filled we should be ok.

Only 5 more hours. I can do it! 

Dreamstate

7-17-14

Occasionally, I will have a dream that truly unsettles me. Last night was one of those times.

I don’t remember the specifics, which is probably why it messes with me still. I think the cast of characters and the mood of the dream was what stands out.

David, Greg and even Brandy were in the dream. I am sure the inclusion of so many prominent figures from my past is part of what makes it so wonky. The fact that I was so angry at all of them was also not too surprising. It wouldn’t be the first time that I would be mad at any of them, in and out of my head. But why in the world did I feel the need to be so worked up while sleeping?

One of the things that occurred was that of a Christmas morning. I felt almost like Ebenezer, watching all of this from the outside. I watched these people along with other old and current friends all get together to do Christmas as family. I was pissed. Perhaps it was just due to my lack of inclusion or maybe the festering feelings that made this event feel like it should have been orchestrated by me and not them. Either way, I wanted out. I wanted to know why none of this was a part of me.

I can speculate as to the origin of this dream sequence. I spend a great deal of last night drinking rum and coke while watching old episodes of Friends, all the while texting with both Stephanie and Sarah. It was actually a pretty fun time, despite over indulging on the liquor. I know that one of the desires I had as a teen was this image I watched in my head. I wanted to be friends with these people for my entire existence and I wanted to share holidays together, much like how Monica always hosts Thanksgiving for her friends in the beloved sitcom. I wanted so much to be Monica; the one who has everyone over and includes everyone, friends and family all becoming one.

Alas, this will never come to pass, and in many ways this is ok. I have a beautiful family and my holidays are spent with them, not in some hipster apartment with a laugh track. My true friends are not caricatures of themselves and our problems don’t include what to do with the duck and the chick.

With too much free time comes too much inner contemplation of my lack of people just coming and going in my house. I have a lot of fun being able to do as I please while Ken and the boys are at camp, but the absence of routine is starting to mess with my head. Although I am not looking forward to staying up past my bedtime this evening, the board meeting actually may be just what I need to re-energize myself.

3

7-16-14

Can you still be mad at someone who has admitted to getting help?

Angela texted me yesterday with a simple picture of her keys and a small note. The key chains said NA. Sure enough, she has sought out help for her issues. She is 27 days sober, getting her 30 day chip on Sunday.

On one hand I am thrilled for her. If she follows through with this perhaps she will truly have an upper hand with her demons that have truly plagued her for years. It is a tough thing to actually take steps to fix the mess that addiction can make.

Then there is my more emotional, irrational side. This is the side that is still pissed at her. The one that feels like this is just one more convenient excuse. I feel like although I forgave her for a week ago, I didn’t let go all of the times I have truly wanted to smack her upside the head.

A minor epiphany hit me on my way in this morning.  I do think that some of my issues with this is that I really want to be that person who would let everything go just to help a friend who would be in this boat. I am upset that I just can’t do that. I can’t go all in, and it is hard for me to admit that.

I am going to go with her on Sunday to get her chip. She said it would mean the world to her if I was there. I think it important no matter what happens in our friendship that she has support. Going to a meeting with her isn’t going to change everything for me, but it may give me better insight so that I can act accordingly.

I also have decided that no matter what, if she is now truly going to take NA seriously then she will need to allow for me to speak my mind fully. No longer am I going to sugar coat things. She needs to know what she has done and she needs to allow me my own recovery.

In less angst ridden topics, I managed to get all the recycling down to the center. It was quite the hall and a reminder that my PT is not a large vehicle. I am also now pretty sure I placed several spiders in my car due to them being on the bags of cans. Bleah.

My mom and I are going to get matching tattoos. I am quite excited at this! We have decided to get the number three on the inside of our wrist. My dad is skeptical that she will get it done, but I think she will. It is not a completely outrageous tattoo idea, and this is something we have had as a symbol for 20 years or so. It should prove to be a really fun outing. Now to just figure out which font to choose!

Lego Migration

7-15-14

Turns out too much free time isn’t all that great.

Not to say I have not enjoyed my afternoons by myself, but to some degree I must admit I miss my housemates. I like that chaos they provide. Not to mention the whole being able to talk to other people and not just furry critters.

The weekend was a good mix of crazy and mellow, which was happy making all around. One highlight was that of Edith’s visit. She is someone I knew in high school, but quite honestly didn’t know her as well as I suppose I could have despite her being pretty involved in our little group. Over the past few years, though, I have gotten to know her better due to the magic of Facebook.

She is in town for a week and we were able to schedule some time with her on Saturday. Ken knows her well, too, so it was a wonderful visit. I got to meet her kids and vice versa, both of whom are total sweethearts. It was pretty funny since I bonded with both kids. Ken did, too. It made me sad that they live out in TN.

We went to dinner and then they came back to see Steve. I am more and more happy with my house every day since it is such a great place to have people visit at. I was able to stay up late to visit but still be super comfortable.

Sunday night I went with Kam to the Hollywood Bowl to go see a Grease Sing-a-Long. It was crazy fun, especially since I wasn’t sure how energized I was about going out to a concert to such a huge venue. I am getting much too old for this stuff. LOL! It was actually really cool, especially since we were in the midst of a huge crowd who truly was feeling the Grease vibe. All of these older (I say older, but really, they were maybe 20 years older than me so not exactly old) women were there with their wine and costumes and having a blast. I also say women and not people since it really was like 93% women.

We got swag bags that had a pompon and a comb and other items for the movie. The whole crowd used the pompon for the pep rally scene. It is kind of surreal to see the whole bowl full of people shaking these red and white pompons. It was awesome!

We had taken the busses from Wilson Park, which totally proved to be the way to go up there for any event. And we didn’t even do it right since we didn’t get tickets before hand and had to go standby. Still, way worth it since we didn’t have to deal with traffic on the way up or home. Plus, no parking nightmares. Next time I may need to prep better and bring booze on the way.

Being that I was exhausted Sunday night, I am glad I opted for no work yesterday. I went to the mall to get some shorts and I worked on some of the stuff on the side of the house. I could have been more productive, but it was just too dang hot to function.

Today, I am hoping to take our recycling to the place to turn it in. We have several bags of cans and glass. My only concern is that it won’t fit in my car. That would kind of suck. I also have grand ambitions of working on the clutter in the catio, but once again, it all depends on this stupid muggy weather we have been dealing with.

Saturday is registration day, and if memory serves it is the last one. Yay! We also have the board meeting on Thursday night.

Sunday I think Ken and I need to work hard on the garage. Lego camp is almost over with next week being the last week. It means all these plastic bricks migrate back to Steve. Now is the time for us to really get things ready for this. I would also like to get a place for the things on the side of the house under the tarp. I may work on some of that this week.

For now, I guess I will tackle this whole work thing. 

Quick Friday

7-11-14

I guess I should go get me a free slurpee today.

Yesterday’s afternoon activities almost didn’t happen. When I arrived home we were in the midst of a power outage. Apparently it was some scheduled maintenance that had it listed online as something that would be lasting until 6. This certainly would be putting a damper on my day since my plan was to watch the movie my mom loaned me. I was just about to opt for an outing to the mall or some place with air conditioning when Steve roared back to life at 2, which meant I could indeed proceed as planned.

Today will be tough since it is Friday and I am a little tired this morning. I see the weekend so close I can taste it, but I am still bound to this desk for the next 8 hours. Bleah.

Sunday night I am going with Kam to the Hollywood Bowl for a Grease sing-a-long, which should be fun. I have gone to one before and it really was awesome. I am not thrilled that it is a Sunday night, but I am not going to go into work on Monday so that I can sleep in.

I am going to the school after work so Bobby can show me Battletech. I know I have explained to him several times I am not only familiar with the game, but I have even played it. He still wants to show me his mech, which I don’t mind in the least. I will stop by my mom’s on the way to drop off her movie and give her the review and then head over.

Now to focus on keeping out of trouble this morning. 

toxicitiy

7-10-14

Roar.

Is it too much to ask for people to grow the fuck up? Is it too much to hope that people would take responsibility for their own repeated actions? Is it too much to expect for people to not make everything only about themselves?

Clearly, I am the delusional one here.

Sarah was supposed to pick up Angela on the way to Steve. Sarah texted me at to tell me Angela wasn’t anywhere to be found and she wasn’t answering her phone. This of course was reminiscent of my last experience with picking her up.  Truly, it was the same as just about every time I have dealt with her. She has never been punctual and it is always some excuse. Frankly, I am tired of it. Sarah asked me how long she should wait. I told her 10 minutes, but I totally understood why Sarah gave her 20.

Sarah was almost at Steve when Angela called her. She didn’t answer the phone since she was driving. Angela texted me saying she had forgotten her phone. The only thing that would have been an acceptable excuse would have had to include something about bleeding out. Even then I would have been annoyed. Her track record isn’t clean and I just don’t have time for this nonsense.

I didn’t respond, and Sarah sent a quick apology to her and we decided to eat since it was now 7 o’clock. Angela didn’t start the barrage of pity party texts until about 8, which meant she was most likely properly intoxicated. Not only did she give full on guilt trip texts, she got Charlotte involved, which meant poor Sarah had to hear it from multiple sources. It was ridiculous.

What made it worse was how much Angela’s bullshit was like dealing with Brandy. These selfish people that have been a part of my life for so long are incredibly taxing on me. I was probably more angry at Angela than I needed to be, but a good chunk of that was me lashing out my frustrations at Brandy onto Angela.

I am very angry at Brandy. I am very angry at Angela. I am angry that these are people that should either be some of my very best friends for the rest of my life, or simply a blip on my life line that provides me with laughs more than frustration. Instead, I am left in this crazy limbo. We run in similar circles and even though I try to be respectful and don’t bash them both on a regular basis, all of their nonsense comes at me with force.

Andrea feels like Brandy and I will be friends again. I wish I felt like this was a good statement. I don’t know that I want to ever be friends with her again. I find her arrogance and preachy ways to be super offensive. Yet I find myself still drawn to her, if only because it is familiar and in a lot of ways, safe. I don’t like letting people go. It is hard for me to lock people out forever. Yet in reality, it is better for me to not be around such toxic people.

I emailed Angela this morning and told her she needs to calm the fuck down and chill out. I told her I was annoyed with her reaction and how she made her mistake into something that Sarah and I should feel guilty about. I know it will fall on deaf ears, especially since she was already wallowing in her self-pity which is why she is leaving in the first place. At least I know I told her and if she decides she is truly pissed at me, there would have been nothing for me to do about it without sacrificing myself in ways I am no longer willing to do.

Thankfully today is mellow. The boss is still out which makes for a less frustrating work day. I also don’t have any planned activities aside from sitting on my ass and watching the movie my mom brought me. It sounds blissful. I figure I can walk the dogs after the movie since it should be cooler out. I like the outlook for the day.

Not much going on

7-9-14

I am glad I checked my email last night.

The board meeting originally scheduled for last night had been changed to Thursday but really it was changed to a Thursday in two weeks. Um, yeah, it was all confusing. The good news was that we didn’t have to go last night. Yay!

My mom came by yesterday to bring me the movie Thieves. I am going to watch it tomorrow. It looks like it will be a lot of fun. She hung out for a while and we got to visit, chit chatting about the boys and other things. I like that she can come over and do that and I have a house now in which I like to have people over. I don’t feel like I have to make excuses for anything there, which is fantastic.

Tonight I am making dinner for Sarah and Angela. Angela has decided to move back to Vegas so this will be a nice dinner to hang out for the last time for a while. I am making lasagna per Sarah’s request. It is nice that I have multiple hours to get everything ready. I have to stop by the store on the way home to get some supplies, but it will be great.

I am sadly quite tired today. It appears to be period related as my body decided this was the month to start early instead of late. I should have known it was coming based on the increased oily skin and cramps, but I knew I wasn’t due for another week. Oh well.

Internal Decaptiation

7-8-14

I was regaled with tales of honor and victory when they got home. It was all quite epic.

This week happens to be Battletech at the camp, which has become a favorite of Bobby’s. He has loved it more and more each summer, and it is clear he is becoming his father’s son in his love for gaming.

He told me, with great pride and enthusiasm, how in his first attack he defended his brother’s honor. Dax had been hit, severing his mech’s arm clean off. Bobby told me how he found this unacceptable and took aim at the perpetrator. He fired and managed to blast off the head of the attacking mech. It was quite a war story. Both the boys were speaking like old war buddies, laughing and talking like they had truly been on a real battlefield together. Even though it was all stemming from a game, it was nice to see the camaraderie between them.

I had anything but a violent afternoon. If anything, I took the super hippie route for my first afternoon off. I stopped by Target on the way home from work in order to pick up a few things. I was a little disappointed in myself for making the trip so short, but I noted that I wasn’t really in good shopping shoes.

When I arrived home, I started some laundry and then decided that I was allowed to just sit on my ass. I decided to partake in some vape action and I kicked up my feet and watched Jersey Girl.

Those critics out there that still feel the need to criticize this film gem are clearly amateurs. I will say, this is one of the sweetest flicks ever, and I am not just saying that because of my allegiance to Lord Kevin Smith. It has a perfect combination of humor and real that make it heartwarming and charming. Ben Affleck, yet another under rated performer, is perfect in this part. I have loved this flick since before I had kids, and now as I watched it, noting the little girl is Dax’s age in the film, I found myself even more enchanted by the story line. I highly recommend it. Oh, and this isn’t just the weed talking.

Tonight is our board meeting. I am all kinds of bummed that it isn’t at our normal spot at the park due to scheduling conflicts. Instead, it is at the National Office over near Eydie. We are dragging the kids with us since really, they can sit and play their iPads and they are quite well behaved. Plus, it gives me an out if I don’t want to stay too late. LOL!

I may need to utilize some of my afternoon to nap so that I am more awake for the late meeting.

When is the next 3 day weekend???

7-7-14

All weekends should be three days long.

We spent a lot of the weekend at Wilson Park, helping out with the National Games. We went by there on Thursday afternoon with intentions of helping, but they really had everything under control. It was nice to check it out, though. We ended up spending all of Saturday there. I got to evaluate one game, which turned out to be two great teams with wonderful sportsmanship, so my job was easy. Later, though, there was one match that I know had at least 2 yellow cards and a lot of angry on both sides due to some questionable calls. It got rather heated.

I did have to run home in order to print out a bunch of flyers. They ended up deciding to have the Sunday games moved over to Columbia Park, which really was better for everyone. It meant the staff that had been at Wilson all week got to have a day off and the fields they were moving to were actually in much better condition.

I also got to duck wrangle. A mama and her 5 babies ended up on a field Ken was reffing on, so Denise and I went to go help out. The fields were on the Crenshaw side of the park so Mama was not as close to the pond as I would have hoped, but we did get her and mama at least near the bushes so she could hide her babies and transport them behind the scenes instead of down the walkway where there were dogs and people. We considered actually catching them but I told everyone it wasn’t necessary. Mama would keep them safe, we just needed to let them be.

There was one serious injury while we were there. They had to even call in an ambulance. Poor kid!  Aside from that, the rest of the day went pretty well. The boys were bored much of the day, but that was really on them. They had their iPads and a soccer ball and let’s face it, a giant park. They just kind of chose to be cranky at times.

They were most likely tired since the 4^th was the night before. We all went down to our normal spot in Redondo Beach. We took both pups knowing that Luna doesn’t seem to give a crap about fireworks and Lily was better off with us. I am happy that my cats don’t really seem to mind the fireworks, but I am guessing it helps that we live in a neighborhood that doesn’t seem to set off as many right next to us.

I enjoyed walking around people watching. Ken, Dax, my dad and Matt and I wandered around by Seaside Lagoon and then back around by the pier. The pups got a lot of attention, which made me all kinds of proud.

The boys played a fun ring toss game in which Ken was tossing on of the glow sticks in a circle at them and they would try to catch it. They had a blast with that. The fireworks were good and Lily seemed to feel safest with Dax. I know she was thrilled when they were done.

On Saturday evening after being at the field all day, we veged out. Andrea happened to be coming home from work and passed the house and stopped for a visit. It was very cool! She hung out for a couple hours where we got to chit chat. We decided she needs to come by more often.  She does just live down the street.

Friday morning did result in a bucket of bones. Ken completed the excavation of Smack’s grave site and we now have brought him home. Bobby is hell bent on somehow connecting the bones together like they do in museums. Not sure how feasible that is, but I suppose it might be interesting.

Brandy had unblocked me for a bit on Facebook, which I found interesting for various reasons. I then noticed on Sunday that she had reblocked me. My best guess right now is that she got her panties in a bunch over the fact that she still reads this and was upset that we would dig up bones. Of course, she has been known to come up with even more trivial reasons to hate me, so I guess it will be a mystery for now.

Today starts my week of free time. I did a ton of housework yesterday which means today I can stop by Target on my way home.  I figure I did my chores, and really all that is left is laundry, which can wait until after a kid free shopping trip. Yay!

dig

7-3-14

Angry hair!

On my way home from work I will be stopping by Fantastic Sams to get a haircut. I have to get the super dead off on the bottom. This means cutting like 3 to 4 inches off. Not a huge deal as I have had my hair short before, and really, it should be a fun time to do it. The top of my hair seems ok, so I should be ok with it again. Sure, I was planning on growing out my hair, but eh, its only hair.

My battery backup is screaming right now at my desk. It is driving me nuts. Sadly, no one who can fix it is in the office right now, so I am left hearing this horrid beeping at my feet.

I found a home for the wooden motorcycle rocking toy. Dawn and Rosie came by yesterday and picked it up. They were thrilled! They will also be coming back because I am giving them my old dollhouse. I had been torn on this for so long, but honestly, I need to downsize and it isn't like I will ever use the dollhouse. I would rather some loving family get use out of it. I feel really good about this. I feel like these are all good deeds and I am earning good Karma.

We took 9 bags and a handful of other things over to Savers yesterday. We are kicking ass on getting rid of things. I worked on the backyard a little, trying to fill the holes the dogs made. I guess we will need to till the dirt and then plant seed. Hopefully the dogs don’t dig once we do that. Then I can water nightly and get it all good.

I am supposed to go by Wilson Park this afternoon to help out a bit with the VIP games. I need to stop and pick up the costume and then go with that. I know those kids will get a kick out of it. It may be the thing I end up helping out with. I can totally enjoy that!

You don’t ever think you will need to send an email to your mother asking when it would be a good time to come and exhume a body from her yard. Of course, most people are not me. It has been the Best of Kevin and Bean this week and yesterday they were replaying this segment where they discussed what people did with the remains of their pets. This one lady called saying she had her cat’s skull. This sparked a conversation in the car with Ken and Dax. Dax decided having a cat skull would be awesome. Ken calls me and I am in a bit of shock. Both the boys tell me they want to help Daddy dig up Smack who is buried at my parents’ house.

I am torn. On one hand, I don’t like the idea of messing with a grave. I think it is disrespectful. I don’t have any faith or even decent reasoning to back this. I just feel strongly about it. That being said, there are more pluses on this that counter my ‘concern’.

Smack should be in our mausoleum. He should be with his kitty family and people family. He had been buried before we started cremating our critters. He is the only family member not with us. In addition to this, there is the scientific aspects that this adventure brings. How often do our kids get to do a for reals archaeological dig? Seriously, when I was a kid, I can tell you, this would have been so fascinating! I remember the time we found a dead cat on the way home from school and I watched daily the way the body broke down and it was amazing. It was so remarkable how nature broke down all of the components of this once living creature, and in some ways gave it a new life. Smack has been in the ground for more than 10 years. He won’t have the fleshy parts left, but his skeleton should prove to be truly fascinating to a couple of young boys.

I don’t know that I want to be a part of the actual dig. I like the idea of them having this experience as father and sons, allowing me to not be a part of the aspects that mess with my emotions and yet still enjoy their excitement.

RIP Jedzia

7-2-14

We are back down to 6 cats.

Ittles passed away yesterday afternoon. She made a small bit of improvement on Monday when we finally found some food she seemed interested in. She ate a bit, and vigorously, but sadly she seemed to be the same if not worse after food. When we took her to Dr. Steinam’s, although she was purring up a storm, she died in the midst of the doctor’s exam. Having never been with a critter when they died naturally instead of euthanasia, I was pretty traumatized at the reflexes that occurred even after she had died.

Outside the vet, Bobby broke down crying and opted to not come in. Dax chose to sit in the waiting room, but came in to say goodbye after she had passed. Ken was a wreck. I found myself more worried about my 3 boys, all dealing with grief in different ways. Don’t get me wrong, I am extremely sad about Ittles, but she no longer has to suffer.

It was much too soon for me to be back in that office. The smell of the place triggered memories of Trixie, and I felt guilty for my sadness of another kitty when one was right in front of me.

Ittles was the one cat that played with Fetus Bob. She used to curl up on my pregnant belly and she was so confused when my belly would punch her. She would bat at it from time to time. It was pretty awesome. She also was the one who curled up with Bobby when he was a baby.

The household seemed to sense the sadness. I know I had 3 of them this morning following me around while I got ready.

I knew she was close, which is probably why it was so easy to spend much of the afternoon cleaning like crazy. I would spend some time with her and then go scrub the kitchen. I cleaned the backyard, the mouse cage, downstairs, even the boys’ room. It was strangely comforting, and to some degree, it was a way to not think about it.

Thankfully, today looks to be without any real activity. Sure, I have work, but that tends to go by quickly enough. This afternoon we will work on my hair, if only to keep us occupied. I figure we can also throw the boys in the pool and work on more laundry. It will be a regular day.

We handed over the keys to our tenant, which is one less stress. It is kind of nice to not have to stress about that anymore. Now we can finish the paint on the outside of Steve and perhaps we can start landscaping. I would love to get the front porch built. I really am anxious about getting the backyard into something that isn’t just a dust bowl. I swept off like 6 pounds of dirt off the back porch. It was nuts!

Rest in peace, Little Butt. You brought our family much love and we will miss you dearly.